Last Night of Summer Break

Katie spent the last night of summer break talking with and playing games with her friend over FaceTime. She had so much fun!

I love spending time with my friends!

Enjoying the Flowers

Even though the feel of fall is in the air, we are going to keep enjoying our summer flowers for as long as we can.

I love the color our flowers add to our house!

Time Moves Fast

I was out for a walk with Katie and when we were almost home, she walked ahead of me. It was one of those moments when I was hit with the idea of how tall she has gotten. How did she get that tall that fast?

I've been pretty excited about being taller. I can't wait to pass up Aunt Jennifer!

Summer

Katie is enjoying her last few free days of summer.

I can feel fall coming, but I'm going to appreciate summer while it's here!

A New Year, A New Teacher

I always love to watch Katie's face when she finds out who her next teacher will be.

I can't wait to start 5th grade!

Checking on the Plants

Every once in awhile, Katie does more of a complete inspection of our plants to see what's going on with them.

I have a lot of zucchinis growing, but none are big enough to cut yet.

Magic Tricks

Katie loves to do magic tricks with cards.

Pick a card. Any card.

A Girl and Her Book

I always love to find Katie with a book.

I'm at such a good part!

More Produce

It has been awhile since Katie has been able to harvest a zucchini, so she was pretty excited to cut her next one off the plant!

I was able to get one large zucchini and one small tomato!

Just Another Reading Moment

Another night of reading, another awkward part in the book for Katie...

I can't help that I feel uncomfortable in awkward moments in stories!

Me and My Shadow

Katie and General Washington are just two buddies who love to be together.

Being with the cats all day is one of the best parts of summer!

Bedtime Reading

Katie is currently reading two stories at bedtime. She's reading Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Sometimes she reads to me, and sometimes I read to her. One thing about Katie is that she doesn't like when there are any suspenseful or awkward moments in a story. She just wants to get right past those.

This is how people find me quite often during awkward parts!

Thankful

After a short break from blackberries, we went out to see if there were any ripe berries left. The bushes were looking pretty dried out, so we were happily surprised when we found some.

It didn't take me long to find the good berries.

They're so pretty and delicious!

Cat Play

The cats always love it when Katie gets out their feather wand.

General Washington was being really playful!

Mr. Limpet would plan his attack for awhile and then make a big jump!

Preparing Dinner

Katie was excited when we could finally use her fresh grown tomatoes in her favorite meal!

I love fettuccine with olives and tomatoes and, of course, parmesan cheese, but I skip on the chicken. We always make enough for more than one night because we love it! The tomatoes tasted so good!

What is That?

We've had some good luck with our tomatoes and zucchinis this summer, but our cucumbers aren't looking so good. We went to check on them to find a surprise.

What is that?

This is what our one cucumber looks like that is not shriveled up!

Just Supervising

Katie went out with Jennifer to supervise as Jennifer cut some arugula for dinner.

Aunt Jennifer knows what she's doing, but it never hurts to have a second set of eyes!

Daily Tomatoes

It's always exciting when you get to that time in summer where you can pick a fresh tomato every day!

We have been saving the tomatoes to make my favorite recipe and it's almost time to make it!

Enjoying the Berries

Katie is continuing to enjoy the blackberries for the short time that we have them.

We find the most berries right next to our house.

They are delicious right now!

Getting Ready to Tap

I don't get to see much of Katie's dance classes anymore because of COVID restrictions, but she still is loving her tap classes. She was sad this week to find out that her teacher, Mr. Drew, would be leaving for a different job, but he promised her he would come back and visit.

Mr. Drew could always make me laugh through class. I'm going to miss him!

Making Lunch

Katie had a craving for homemade pepperoni pizza, so she didn't let anything stop her.

I haven't had one of these pizzas for so long!

I was so excited, and the pizza was delicious!

Time for a Walk

As we enter another heat wave, we try to get any walks over in the morning hours. Katie still doesn't love it because that sun feels hot regardless of the time.

The hat helps a little, but it still feels really hot!

Tomato Time!

Katie has been so excited to see her tomatoes growing, and last week, some were finally ready to be picked.

I have so many tomatoes growing, and I can't wait to eat them!

Here are my first five that were ready!

Catching Katie

You can very often catch Katie in this position.

I still love to draw!

Video Game Time

When Jennifer had the week off, she and Katie had a bit of time to play some video games!

Aunt Jennifer and I have fun when we work on video games together!

Off to Jennifer's

We ended up making three loaves of blueberry zucchini bread, so Katie chose one of the loaves to share with Jennifer.

I was happy to share with Aunt Jennifer!

Cooking

We had some fresh blueberries, so Katie decided to make blueberry zucchini bread.

I wasn't sure I loved the green color of the batter, but the bread turned out really yummy and didn't look green at all!

Another Zucchini

Katie was excited to harvest a second zucchini, so she had enough for baking!

I was so happy that the zucchini grew so fast!

I had two zucchinis ready. Now what should I make?

Summer Reading

Katie has had a new interest in Greek Mythology, so she was pretty excited when she got Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief from the library.

I love this new book that involves the Greek Gods!

A Surprise

Part of our summer garden is a hanging basket full of strawberry plants. While Katie and I were watering everything, we found quite a surprise in the strawberry pot.

Who would think we would find a zucchini growing out of our strawberry pot?

The Best Time

Katie has discovered that the best time for blackberry picking is earlier in the morning or in the evening when the sun is going down because the bees have gone away by then.

I don't like being anywhere close to bees, so I was glad I discovered when they're gone.

We ran out of fruit in the house this week, so I was extra thankful for our blackberry bushes!